It was not a miracle in the traditional holiday sense.

Walking on water is a feat that only a select few prophets can accomplish. However, there is another of God’s (or nature’s) creations that can achieve the same miracle.

Snow fleas can walk on water. Snow fleas are hearty hexapods, members of the order Collembola that resemble insects, but are not classified as such. They owe the ability to walk on and around ponds and water bodies more to their small size (less than one-eighth of an inch) than to any holy happening. More than likely, though, you will see these active arthropods elsewhere this time of year.

Last week, a crowd of these creatures appeared on my outside deck. Since very few insects (or in this case insect-like animals) are active in the winter, their presence always intrigues. And their numbers are surprising for such a usually elusive species. Snow fleas appear en mass, often on snow or on the base of trees, and look like a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper that twitch and move.

Snow fleas use two different mechanisms to beat the cold weather. The first is dehydration. The biggest threat to these types of tiny organisms in winter is the freezing of the fluid in their cells. Snow fleas reduce the amount of liquid in their bodies to avoid the formation of cellular ice crystals. The second and more common reason for their survival in the cold temperatures is their use of a type of compound that acts as an antifreeze agent in their blood. This allows for activity during even the coldest of days. Consider Arctic snow fleas, which have been known to be lively at temperatures as low as -31 degrees Fahrenheit.

These adaptations allow them a differently timed life cycle than most other similar animals. Snow fleas mate in the spring and lay eggs that hatch into nymphs that look dissimilar to their parents. Molting occurs throughout the spring, summer and into the fall until after the final molt, they take on their adult form. In one record-breaking instance, 52 molts were observed in one animal through the three seasons!

Snow fleas are rarely seen during those others seasons. They unobtrusively live in the leaf litter, on moss and fungus, and along pond shores in the vegetation until a relatively warm winter day when they emerge en mass. While the group I observed had about 100-plus individuals, there are many more around. One estimate suggests that as many as 250,000,000 individuals can be found per square acre!

As if their numbers and temperature-busting traits aren’t enough, they also can jump more than 100 times their body length. Their other name, springtail, describes their flying finesse. Their airborne propensities are permitted by two hooked appendages called furcula that allow them to catapult through the air. Unfortunately, they can neither determine nor control their direction.

Perhaps the real miracle of these microfauna is their a ability to consume the plant matter below our feet. As detritivores, they manage to break down the organic materials that litter the ground; a cleanup service more important than many of us may realize.

So, while we work away indoors during the winter, these springtails are creating quite a miracle out of doors under our feet all year. May we all vault into the New Year with aplomb!

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature.